The "Water Gathering Technique" and "Spiritual Rain Technique" in the "Introduction to Spiritual Plant Cultivation" provided by the sect are too basic and require spiritual energy to activate. Perhaps if he could get something more advanced, even just theoretical, it might inspire him?
"Go! Of course I'll go!" Li Xuan immediately agreed. Clearing fallen rocks was physical work, which suited him perfectly.
"Alright, let's meet by the stream first thing tomorrow morning," Zhao Tie said.
The next day, Li Xuan, Zhao Tie, and three other servants went to the path in the western mountains.
A landslide occurred here a few days ago, and falling rocks blocked the road.
The task was simple: to clear the stones. But the stones varied in size, and some were very heavy.
While the other laborers were panting and sweating profusely, Li Xuan seemed to handle everything with ease. He focused on the largest stones, lifting them effortlessly and setting them aside with remarkable efficiency. Zhao Tie and the other laborers were dumbfounded.
"Junior Brother Li...you...you are truly born with superhuman strength!" a servant exclaimed in amazement.
Li Xuan just smiled sheepishly, said nothing more, and buried himself in his work. What would normally take a whole day to complete was cleaned up in just half a day thanks to Li Xuan's "extraordinary performance."
When they went to the miscellaneous servants' hall to hand in their tasks, the steward inspected them, nodded in satisfaction, and branded their identity plaques with a magical artifact, recording the points.
Seeing the wooden plaque flash with a faint light, indicating five additional contribution points, Li Xuan felt a surge of excitement. This was the first "wealth" he had earned in this world.
Li Xuan immediately ran to the exchange counter in the miscellaneous services hall to check. The list was dazzling with items, but the prices were exorbitant. Better farm tools cost ten points, and the worst offensive spell, "Fireball" (which also required spiritual power), cost fifty points.
Even the cheapest explanation of the water-based spell incantations, "Water Flow Spell," requires 30 contribution points.
"We're still a long way off." Li Xuan took a deep breath, but he had a goal in mind.
Enticed by the contribution points, Li Xuan began to actively pay attention to the task list in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall. He specifically selected tasks that required a lot of stamina, rewarded contribution points, but wouldn't attract too much attention.
His reputation for "natural strength" gradually spread among a few menial laborers. After hearing about it, Wang Mazi and his gang seemed to be somewhat wary and stopped bothering him.
Li Xuan was delighted with this, earning contribution points through missions while secretly drinking the remaining water from the spirit beast garden, making his body stronger day by day.
Li Xuan felt that his physical strength was now probably no less than that of the outer disciples at the first or second level of Qi Refining.
However, the water in the spirit beast garden is becoming less and less effective.
The effects of the residual water in the Spirit Beast Garden had diminished dramatically, pushing Li Xuan to a bottleneck once again. The Alchemy Hall had become a tough nut to crack.
After making inquiries from various sources and conducting several reconnaissance missions, Li Xuan gained a deeper understanding of the situation at the Alchemy Hall.
The alchemy hall is located at the foot of an isolated mountain peak, heavily guarded with numerous sentries, both overt and covert. Its wastewater is not directly discharged into the underground ditch, but first flows into several huge sedimentation tanks in the backyard for preliminary treatment. Only after separating some of the highly toxic residue will the remaining toxic water be discharged.
The sedimentation tank is guarded by disciples, but the level of vigilance is lower compared to the outer areas, especially at night.
The biggest problem was toxicity; it was said that the wastewater would cause skin rot upon contact, and even the smell was poisonous. Li Xuan made thorough preparations. He found a type of broad leaf with extremely strong resilience, layered it in multiple layers, and made simple gloves and masks. He also tightly wrapped his arms, calves, and other potentially exposed areas with thick strips of cloth.
That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.
Li Xuan stealthily made his way to the outer perimeter of the alchemy hall like a ghost. He avoided the patrol team at the main gate and circled around to the outside of the back wall.
The courtyard wall was much taller than the spirit beast garden. Li Xuan listened for a moment to make sure no one was walking inside the wall, took a deep breath, and suddenly jumped up, barely managing to grab the top of the wall with both hands. He pulled himself up and carefully peered out.
Several huge pools came into view in the courtyard. The water was strangely colored, ranging from dark green, scarlet, and deep purple, and emitted a pungent, sour, and fishy smell. You could even see strange bubbles rolling on the surface of the water.
A disciple was dozing in a pavilion in the distance. Li Xuan's target was the outermost pool, whose water was relatively light in color and didn't smell as terrible; it seemed to be wastewater that had undergone preliminary sedimentation.
Li Xuan held his breath, scaled the wall, and landed silently. He quickly approached the target pool.
The closer you get, the stronger the pungent smell becomes. Even through multiple layers of leaves and strips of cloth, it stings your eyes and makes it hard to breathe.
The pool water was murky and the bottom was not visible. Li Xuan dared not delay, quickly took out a leather bag and a broken ladle tied with a long pole, kept them as far away from his body as possible, and carefully scooped half a ladle of pool water.
Just as he was about to pour the water into the leather bag, a gust of wind blew by, carrying some pool water foam, which splashed a few drops onto the back of his hand—even through the leaf gloves, he still felt a strong burning sensation!
"Ugh!" Li Xuan groaned, enduring the pain, quickly poured the water into the leather bag, tied the opening tightly, and turned to run.
He climbed over the courtyard wall and ran all the way back to the thatched hut.
Li Xuan, still shaken, spread his hands and discovered that the leaf glove had corroded several small holes in the area on the back of his hand where it had been splashed, and the skin underneath was red, swollen, and blistered, causing a burning pain.
"Such potent toxicity!" Li Xuan looked at the half-bag of wastewater, its color bizarre and its smell pungent, still feeling lingering fear.
Is this stuff really drinkable? But how can you not try something you've gained through such an adventure? Li Xuan found a broken bowl, poured out a tiny bit, just a mouthful.
The wastewater is dark gray and has an indescribable, strange smell; just smelling it makes one feel dizzy.
After hesitating for a long time, thinking about the increasingly pressing bottleneck, Li Xuan finally made up his mind, closed his eyes, and poured that small mouthful of wastewater into his mouth!
"Ugh—!" An indescribable, extremely intense burning sensation and pain instantly spread from my throat to my stomach! It felt like I had swallowed a red-hot iron!
Li Xuan screamed in agony, clutching his stomach and collapsing to his knees. His entire body convulsed violently, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes. His vision went black, his ears rang, and his consciousness began to blur.
Li Xuan felt like he was going to die! He had really messed up this time! In the midst of intense pain, he instinctively grabbed a water ladle, scooped up ordinary well water from the water vat, and frantically poured it into his mouth, trying to dilute the poison.
He didn't know how much cold water he drank before the burning pain in his stomach lessened slightly, but it was still excruciating. He curled up on the ground, vomiting incessantly, spewing out acidic water with a pungent odor.
That night, Li Xuan endured excruciating pain, countless times thinking he wouldn't make it. Only as dawn approached did the intense pain slowly subside, replaced by an utterly utter sense of powerlessness.
Li Xuan collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. However, when he regained a little strength and looked inward, he was stunned.